How to develop an effective brand strategy

From having the idea ‘what if everyone gave just one dollar on one day’ to working to make this idea a reality, there have been endless decisions and opportunities to evaluate. Having a brand strategy has enabled One Dollar Day to evaluate these ideas and opportunities and test them according to our brand, and as a result stay very true to our vision and mission.

What is a brand?

I define a brand as being the collective attributes, tangible and intangible, which if managed authentically create value. The brand strategy is the blueprint of the brand, which helps to ensure the consistent and accurate delivery of the brand across various mediums.

It’s easy to believe that a brand is the tangible product or service that your organisation provides. However, a brand is reflected at every touch point, from the way the telephone is answered, across every form of marketing and communications collateral, to the internal staff culture and attitudes.

Why do NFP’s need a brand strategy?

Defining your not-for-profit (NFP) organisation’s brand through a strategy enables you to create alignment, consistency and focus. Consistent branding will build the reputation of your organisation, as well as awareness, differentiation, influence, value and trust. Having a robust brand strategy provides clarity and objectivity to decision-making.

The methodology that we used at One Dollar Day involved exploring and defining six distinctive layers to our brand: core values; personality/culture; rational and emotional benefits; tangible and intangible proof points; value proposition; and the brand essence. These layers collectively define our brand, and formed a blueprint that helped us navigate our journey.

What are your brand’s values?

The foundation of any brand is its core values, which is the first layer of your brand strategy. Core values are the guiding principles that underpin an organisation and govern every decision within it. Only a few values can truly be core. These are the values that are so fundamental that they will seldom change, if ever.

One Dollar Day’s core values are simplicity, transparency, inclusion, impact and respect. We refer to our core values before every decision is made to ensure we are behaving accordingly.

To understand and define your brand’s core values, ask yourself:

• What behaviours does my organisation expect?
• What would lead my organisation to hire a job candidate?
• What would my organisation not tolerate under any circumstance?
• How do our stakeholders expect and want to be treated?

Test your answers to the above questions by drawing on examples that involve your organisation. If you cannot find consistent examples then that value may truly not be a core value. Relentlessly test and refine your selection of words and their intent.

What is your brand’s personality?

The second essential layer of your brand strategy is to define the personality or culture of your brand, which sets the tone, feeling and expression of your organisation. It can be helpful to imagine your brand as a person – if it was a person, how would you describe him/her? Would they be:

• Masculine or feminine?
• Serious or fun?
• Young, middle-aged or wise through maturity and experience?

One Dollar Day’s brand personality is defined as simple, easy, fun, inclusive, smart and robust.

What are the benefits and proof points of your brand?

The next layer involves defining the benefits of the brand and objectively detailing the proof points of what you are claiming. It’s essential to capture the rationale benefits (what the brand offers people) and the emotional benefits (how the brand makes people feel). Then test your theories by confirming the proof points.

Is your brand valuable?

Value proposition is a term that refers to the value a brand offers to it’s target market. Value propositions identify a problem that the brand solves or a need that the brand satisfies for its audience. Identifying your organisation’s value proposition allows you to discover your brand essence, which is the reason for your organisation’s existence.

One Dollar Day’s brand essence is ‘when every 1 counts’ (referring to every person and every dollar donated).

How to create a brand strategy

• Write your initial thoughts regarding the six layers of the brand strategy on post-it-notes and stick them on a large sheet of paper
• Test them by seeking input from others and by seeking examples that demonstrate they are true
• Perfect the language used on the post-it notes until you are confident that they accurately reflects your brand.